Malaysia Airlines Plane Crash Update: Conflicting Reports Create Confusion as Search Continues

March 12,2014

 

 

 

After several days of combing the South China Sea for signs of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, authorities are still sifting through several reports that suggest missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was all over the map.
An email sent by a Vietnamese oil rig worker and obtained by ABC News journalist Bob Woodruff claims the man spotted the missing plane in the air, off the southeastern coast of Vietnam.
"I believe I saw the Malaysian Airlines plane come down. The timing is right," said the email, according to a Mashable report. Woodruff reported Vietnamese officials have confirmed they received the tip but found nothing in the water. Still, the man claimed he saw a burning plane flying at a high altitude, still in one piece. He believes he saw the flames for 10 to 15 seconds before they went out.
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But there are conflicting reports regarding the whereabouts of the plane.
According to a CNN report, Flight 370 was hundreds of miles away from where it should have been, according to an unidentified official with the Malaysian Air Force. The air force lost track of the plane after it passed over Pulau Perak, a small island west of Malaysia in the Straits of Malacca and hundreds of miles from the Kuala Lumpur-to-Beijing flight plan.
The Associated Press reports that the missing Boeing 777 jetliner may have changed course over the sea and crossed Malaysia, ending up hundreds of miles from its last position recorded by civilian authorities.
The country's civilian aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said he could neither confirm nor deny the anonymous remarks. That suggests disagreement or confusion at the highest level over where the plane is most likely to have ended up.
"There is a possibility of an air turn back. We are still investigating and looking at the radar readings," he said Wednesday. It is possible that the radar readings are not definitive, especially if the plane was malfunctioning.
The development added confusion and mystery into what is emerging as one of most puzzling aviation incidents of recent time, and it has raised questions about why the Malaysia Airlines flight apparently was not transmitting signals detectable by civilian radar or sending distress calls after it turned back.
Authorities have not ruled out any possible cause, including mechanical failure, pilot error, sabotage and terrorism. Both the Boeing 777 and Malaysia Airlines have excellent safety records. Until wreckage or debris is found and examined, it will be very hard to say what happened.
CNN reports the search area was expanded again on Wednesday and now covers 27,000 square miles, more than twice the size of the search area on Tuesday.
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Flight MH370, carrying 239 people, took off from Kuala Lumpur at 12:41 a.m. Saturday, bound for Beijing. Authorities initially said its last contact with ground controllers was less than an hour into the flight at a height of 35,000 feet, when the plane was somewhere between the east coast of Malaysia and Vietnam.
Dozens of ships and planes searching waters have failed to turn up anything, prompting officials to expand the hunt. Malaysia asked India to join the search for the missing jet in waters near the Andaman Sea - far to the northwest of its last reported position.
"As of today, we have not found anything, but we are extending (the search) further," Hishammuddin said.
Air force chief Gen. Rodzali Daud said air defense radar showed an unidentified object at 2:15 a.m. about 200 miles (320 kilometers) northwest of Penang.
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"I am not saying it's flight MH370. We are still corroborating this. It was an unidentifiable plot," he said.
But local newspaper Berita Harian quoted Malaysia's air force chief, Gen. Rodzali Daud, as saying that radar at a military base had tracked the jet as it changed its course, with the final signal at 2:40 a.m. showing the plane to be near Pulau Perak at the northern approach to the Strait of Malacca, a busy waterway that separates the western coast of Malaysia and Indonesia's Sumatra island. It was flying slightly lower, at around 29,528 feet, he said.
"After that, the signal from the plane was lost," he was quoted as saying.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report

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A woman writes a message for passengers aboard a missing Malaysia Airlines plane on a banner at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, Wednesday, March 12, 2014. (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)